I Won't Be Broken
"Wait, hold on. It's a misunderstanding."
"A misunderstanding? Then does this stone that just hit me have some hidden meaning?"
Under Frey's sharp interrogation, Aris stammers.
"I-it's an individual's deviant behavior. Our protest group has undergone dozens of hours of training..."
"What matters is that I got hit by this stone, doesn't it?"
"...I-I'm sorry."
Finally, Aris bows her head slightly in apology.
"Everyone! Step back! No more violent actions...!"
She raises her voice to shout at the protesters behind her, but—
Whoosh!
"Eek!?"
At the same moment, another stone flies from the crowd, and she begins to look flustered.
"Everyone! You can't do this! We're not Frey! With justice and righteousness, non-violently..."
Unable to stay still, she hurries toward the protesters, pleading like that, but—
"N-no...!"
Several stones fly past her back, and she cries out with a deeply panicked expression.
"Why are you doing this! This just gives Frey justification...!"
"Justification... justification, huh..."
Then, hearing Frey's low mutter from behind, she whips her head around.
"Ah..."
She swallows hard.
Drip...
Blood trickled down from Frey's forehead, struck dead-on by a stone from the protesters.
"The justification started with the first stone... no, the moment you lot trespassed here."
"U-um."
"Now it's overflowing."
With those words, Frey—
"".........""
—stares silently at the people beyond her, their faces cold, and—
"Yeah, good job!!"
"Hand of the Demon King! Die!!"
"No mercy!!"
—the ones hurling unknown rage and insults at him.
"Urk."
"Eh...?"
Suddenly, Frey grimaces in pain, breathing raggedly as he staggers in place.
"H-heek?"
Ariane ends up staggering along with him, caught in his sudden tight embrace.
"...Hoo."
After a brief moment of chaos, Frey pulls out a miniaturized staff from his bosom, plants it in the ground, and lets out a deep sigh.
".....?"
He tilts his head at the protesters beyond Ariane, whose face is flushed red, and Aris, pale and at a loss.
"Something... feels off?"
Muttering that, Frey—
"Hey."
—addresses Ariane, who had been staring blankly until then.
"G-give me Irina back..."
"Shut up and put up a barrier around us."
"W-why?"
"Do it. Or do you not care what happens to Irina?"
At Frey's threat, Ariane hesitates briefly before erecting a cylindrical barrier around herself, Frey, Irina, and Lulu.
Crackle... Crackle!
Crack!
Thwack...!
Stones and clubs from all directions begin hammering the barrier fiercely.
"B-break it!!"
"Raaah!!"
"As expected..."
Frey glares sharply at the protesters pounding away in frenzy.
"...Definitely strange."
Saying that, he quietly turns his gaze aside.
"Ah? A-ah...?"
In his view enters Aris, trembling violently outside the barrier with a deathly pale face.
"E-everyone... why are you doing this..."
"Out of the way!!"
"Heek...!"
She tries to calm the furious crowd but gets shoved to the ground.
".........."
Fallen in the dirt, she stares blankly at the protesters she had trained and guided, beginning to tremble.
Vrrr...!
And at that moment, the barrier cracks open slightly.
"Hngh!?"
Ignoring her fallen form, a protester swings a placard like a club toward her—
Thud...!
—but she's barely dragged inside the barrier by someone's rough hand.
Boom! Boom!!
Crackle, crackle...!
The next instant, those surrounding the barrier start battering it indiscriminately.
"U-ugh..."
Terrified by the transformation of people who had obeyed her until moments ago, Aris freezes in place, unable to even back away.
Clang!
Groan...!
For a while after, only the sounds of the barrier clashing with the crowd echo.
"See it now?"
"Heek...!"
Frey approaches Aris, frozen staring beyond the barrier, and whispers coldly.
"The end of that 'non-violent protest' you talked about?"
"I-I didn't..."
Stammering, Aris mutters in a trembling voice.
"U-until just now... they were smiling and listening to the training..."
"So what happened to that end?"
"Th-that's..."
"Look with your own eyes. Don't look away."
Frey grabs her face, forcing her gaze onto the crowd's faces.
"Ah....."
The people she believed were righteous, under her control—they pounded the barrier with rage-filled expressions.
"How foolish, barging into a duke's territory for such antics. Even for me, condemned by the world, that's at least a capital offense."
"......."
"And you, their leader, would get the maximum penalty."
At Frey's words, Aris's face twists in terror.
"You thought you could control them? You, a mere commoner girl, over that horde of stupid, brainless vermin?"
"Ugh..."
"Ridiculous. You saw it yourself? Without the barrier, all they did was toss a few stones."
Picking up the stone that had hit his forehead, Frey continues.
"Only after the barrier closed did those ugly bastards think it was their chance and swarm to pound it."
"N-no... the ugly ones are..."
"You wanna say I'm the ugly one? Sure, I'm ugly. But..."
He leans in close to her face, whispering.
"You really think that mob behind you, losing reason and control, rampaging wildly—they're not truly ugly?"
".....!"
"Your eyes are wavering."
"N-no!"
Aris shakes her head wildly, clenching her fists so hard her nails draw blood, and screams.
"Th-that's rage toward you! The natural backlash to everything you've done...!"
"...So this is acceptable behavior?"
"......."
Aris falls silent, at a loss for words.
From her perspective, this situation made no sense at all.
She couldn't even grasp where or how it had gone wrong.
"Well... what now? Call in the suppression forces? Or use magic for summary execution?"
"W-wait! Hold on!"
"Tough choice."
Looking down at her with mocking eyes, Frey rummages in his bosom and mutters.
"I-I'll accept punishment gladly, so let me handle it! You don't even have any forces to deploy right now...!"
Aris grabs his leg desperately, pleading, but—
"...Sit still."
At that instant, Lulu, glaring at the furious protesters with glowing Demon Eyes, growls.
Swoosh...!
All the protesters collapse to the ground in unison.
""........""
A brief silence falls.
"Uh, um."
Frey glances at Lulu in shock, then notices her Demon Eyes are normal again, and his own eyes gleam.
"No forces to deploy, you said?"
He seamlessly slips into acting to fit the moment.
"H-how..."
The timing was too perfect; Aris falls completely for Frey's performance.
"You thought someone under death threats across the Empire wouldn't have even this much?"
"Ah..."
Emboldened, Frey presses on.
"Listen carefully from now on."
He grabs her chin, yanking her panicked face toward him, and begins.
"That idealism, self-purification, democracy you believe in—it's all fiction."
"Urk..."
"Look at that dumb mob. Most people turn idiot with simple incitement."
"...Hm?"
"Planting a spy in the protest to toss one stone at me? Piece of cake."
As Frey smiles, Aris shudders.
"You thought you, one person, could enlighten those manipulable idiots?"
"Ugh..."
"You're no revolutionary, no hero. Just the boss of a pack of fools."
He slams her head to the ground, whispering coldly.
"No, not even that. Up close, you're just another cheap slut."
"Ugh..."
Looking at Aris, her hair dirtied and disheveled, he asks coldly.
"Aiming for student council president in your second year?"
"...Th-that's."
"Think you're something? You're nothing. Can't control those behind you, what qualification do you have?"
"Ugh..."
As she bows her head, Frey forces her face up.
"From today, you're my slave."
Dusting the dirt from her hair, he whispers lowly.
"Not a leader guiding all, not a council president shaking the academy, not a commoner rep... Become one of my sex slaves, dominated like those behind you."
"Ah, aa..."
Aris slowly opens her mouth.
"Your answer?"
Frey prods with a quiet smirk.
"...Got it."
At her sudden blank expression and response—
"I'll become your sex slave."
"Huh?"
—Frey mutters in confusion.
"...That's not right?"
......
"Uh, um... what?"
I'm in an utterly bewildering situation right now.
"I'll... become your sex slave."
".....???"
Aris, with her blank expression, is declaring she'll become my slave.
"Frey...?"
"Master...?"
"........."
Irina, Lulu, and Ariane kneel before me, bowing their heads, then turn cold stares my way.
"Wh-what? No way...?"
A chill runs down my spine as I hurriedly open the Affection System.
"...Not it?"
Aris's name is definitely not in the Affection System list.
Meaning my hypothesis of 'sub-heroine influence' doesn't apply to her.
"What the hell?"
I could think her reaction is from mental breakdown because of me, but... no way.
She's the one partnering with the Church as second-year student council president and main villain—characterized by 'never breaking' to my proposals.
No matter how much gold and jewels I offer, no matter the blackmail, even if I try to take her life.
She never bends her 'beliefs'.
Yet.
"What does a sex slave... do?"
She's kneeling demurely before me, asking that.
Why the hell is this happening? And the lines I just said were straight from the prophecy book for the mandatory event 'Awaken Aris'—memorized exactly.
Normally, she'd reject my proposal here and declare 'I won't break'.
"The sc-script... is derailing... damn it..."
"What should I call you? Frey-nim? Young master? Master?"
But she just keeps murmuring submission.
"M-Master? No. I'm the only pet... The titles overlap too."
"F-Frey. Stop it. Something's wrong with her."
My arms are yanked long by Lulu and Irina.
"Tr-trash..."
Ariane's glare grows icier.
"I'm gonna lose it...?"
As I squeeze my eyes shut in near-mad frustration—
"...How is it?"
".......!"
A terribly familiar voice rings out.
"Satisfied?"
"Secret Party Lord...?"
Aris's eyes have turned yellow, speaking to me in the Moonlight family's secret lord's voice.
"Subjugation Curse..."
Staring blankly at her, I spot the Subjugation Curse magic circles emerging on her body and widen my eyes.
"You, don't tell me...?"
"Yes, I placed the Subjugation Curse on this girl long ago."
She speaks to me in the secret lord's voice, so I hurriedly block Ariane's eyes and ears with magic.
"Kyaa!? Wh-what is this..."
"She was exceptionally skilled among assassins. Unlike my utterly damnable daughter, it took perfectly."
Aris keeps speaking in the secret lord's voice as she eyes me.
"Anyway, it looked tricky, so I intervened briefly... Satisfied?"
"What the hell is this..."
"A deal. I'll offer a deal."
Without giving me a chance to speak, she proposes.
"I'll temporarily hand over control of this girl now, so save me."
"You?"
"Yes, please! I beg you! I can't even die because of that wretched daughter!"
"Hm."
"Save me, and I'll permanently transfer her control... and help you dominate the world! Promise!"
As I pause at his proposal—
"I've lost all power anyway, but with your help, I can command Serena! I know tons of hidden assassins and dark mages everywhere! That's plenty helpful!"
The secret lord pleads desperately.
"Time's short! That bitch is coming down here soon! Without her control, you'll be in trouble too?"
"Hmm..."
"As you said, she's perfect for that use! Never touched by a man! Check for yourself...!"
Staring at the secret lord—no, Aris—
"...Fine."
I reply curtly.
"Deal... established..."
Aris responds wearily.
"........"
Her eyes return to normal, staring at me intently before—
"You were right. The masses are foolish, unworthy of enlightenment. So it's right to be dominated by superior you."
—answering in her own voice, serious.
"And same for me. When do my sex slave duties start?"
"Hoo......"
My head throbs as I bow and sigh deeply.
"Master, those people are weird."
"...Me too. Something's off."
Hearing Lulu and Irina, I turn to the people still sitting blankly.
"Commanding that Miho girl or... Master felt like forcing through a steel wall... but these felt like nothing."
"...Mana array's weird. Not human."
At their tense voices—
"Of course. They're not human."
""......?""
"Seems like the Church's secret weapon... Anyway, you said they came from the Church...?"
I mutter coldly.
"The Pope... finally stepping in for real?"
Beside me—
"Order my sex slave duties, please. Starting tonight?"
"I-In front of my eyes, you made her like that. Impossible."
—Aris keeps asking about sex slave duties, while Ariane pales and backs away.
"Sigh."
The sun sets, ending the tumultuous day.